


Blazing Spirit

by keirajo



Series: The Prime and the Emperor [3]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Action/Adventure, Background Relationships, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Intrigue, M/M, peace conference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 17:11:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20439572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keirajo/pseuds/keirajo
Summary: Five years after Rodimus Prime left Chaar with Stormbreaker, he has worked hard as both Autobot Leader and a goodwill [peace] ambassador for the Galactic Alliance.   Five years ago, Rodimus Prime made a promise with a young human [Earth] boy.   Now the time has come to honor those promises, to have new adventures...…….and the stage for a new space-wide drama is about to unfold.





	Blazing Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> This G1S3 expanded universe version of Kicker Jones is slightly different than the "Transformers: SuperLink" (Energon) one. While I couldn't quite understand exactly what his ESP was in the English dub of the Japanese anime, I took an interpretation of it to apply in this G1S3 expanded universe. I took the two concepts...……..his ability to foresee danger and his ability to sense Energon (and Transformers) and applied them to ideas introduced in my previous two ongoing series, to make it suit better--but they remain the same abilities overall.
> 
> There's no Galvatron/Rodimus "action" this particular story, that's the next DTT chapter...…..and in the next works of this opening saga. :)

** _ Blazing Spirit _ **

If Rodimus Prime had been just the _tiniest_ bit like his lover, Galvatron, he would’ve long since threatened the young human following him and pestering him that he would _step on him_ and effectively end the conversation they were having. If it had _actually_ been some kind of conversation to begin with, that is. It was more like a rather one-sided argument on the part of the young human, to tell the truth.

“But you **_promised_**, Rodimus!” Kicker Jones growled, stomping around behind the young Autobot Leader—at which, he had to do so _very quickly_ to keep up with a giant robot’s slow (but extremely long) strides. He tried to keep kicking the flame-colored mech’s pedes, but the movements prevented him from getting a good leg swing in.

Rodimus sighed deeply, stopping and kneeling down to look at Kicker more closely. “I have a fairly good memory, Kicker—so, I’d like you to remind me what my promise _actually was_,” he said, patting the teenage boy with a couple of fingers.

“You **_said_** that when I turned sixteen I could come with you!” Kicker cried, taking the opportunity that they’d stopped moving to finally aim a kick at one of the Autobot Leader’s grey pedes.

“Kicker, what _exactly_ did I promise—because I **_do_** remember the exact wording, that you don’t seem to want to remember right now………?” Rodimus Prime said, seriously, staring down at the teenage boy.

Kicker shoved his hands into the pockets of his light jacket and grumbled. “If I learned my lessons and I was strong and dad had my exo-suit ready I could have a _few-week internship_ with you when I turned sixteen,” the boy muttered, scowling and tapping a foot lightly against one of Rodimus’ pedes.

“Your dad doesn’t have the exo-suit ready, yet. You had a recent growth spurt and it doesn’t fit properly, he has to adjust it,” Rodimus Prime said, rising back up to standing. “Besides, your mom wants you to go with the girls to the zoo for Sally’s birthday. I’m also here on Athenia and Earth for a couple weeks in conference meetings, we’re not going back out for a little while. Let’s see if your dad can readjust the exo-suit before we have to leave, all right?”

“_I guess_,” the teenage boy sighed. “But the zoo is boring!” He complained.

“It’s only because you’ve been to the zoo a million times,” Rodimus chuckled softly, starting to walk very slowly again towards Spike’s offices. “Sally loves the zoo and Storm has never been to one before, this will be her first time.”

The young Prime remembered talking it over with Miranda Jones, about Sally’s birthday gift trip to the zoo. The Jones family had already had a party for their little six-year-old girl, but they had to schedule a trip to the zoo for later on, which was the gift she wanted for her birthday. Sally absolutely loved going to the zoo! Miranda said it would be okay to take Stormbreaker along on the trip—the young female Transformer was just an inch or two taller than Kicker, even though she was almost seven years old now, so she wasn’t too big to get around a place like the zoo. The only issue they could foresee happened to be Stormbreaker’s wings. It made her a little “_wide_” in comparison to a human.

But, then, Slipstream had come to a solution on **_that_**. She’d noticed how Stormbreaker could flutter her wings and thought that the paneling had been collapsible. Slipstream had turned out to be right about that, the femmeling’s wings could fold to a more compact form against her back—which was a very interesting idea, as most aerial types couldn’t actually do such a thing with their own wings. One of the older Decepticon femme’s other thoughts about the femmeling’s wings were that she could expand and collapse her wings in flight—_in her alt mode_—which would make her far more maneuverable than a normal plane-type Transformer. Extending her wings would allow her to coast and glide for greater distances, without relying on excess fuel for her engines………while compacting her wings could make her extremely fast and incredibly maneuverable in tight places.

While this was an incredibly amazing adaptive trait for Galvatron and Rodimus Prime’s second offspring, the femmeling didn’t quite know how to control any of it, yet, and when she was really excited, her wings just flared out. Stormbreaker tended to get excited very easily. So, First Aid and Hook pondered the issue and found that they could put some lightly-magnetic bands on the wings, to keep them collapsed to their most compact form—at first Stormbreaker thought it was weird, but after wearing the bands for a while, she hardly even noticed them anymore.

Because of all this, it allowed Stormbreaker to go along on trips with her human friends to a lot more places, much easier than ever before. She totally loved going to places with Sally and Kicker Jones—they were both her best friends that she had made since she’d had to leave Chaar with their carrier. Every time that Rodimus and his crew had to go off and do some things in Galactic Alliance territory, Stormbreaker would be excited beyond belief when they’d have a chance to come back around to Athenia and Earth, so she could see her human friends. It was an excitement just as energetic as when they’d visit everyone on Chaar as well………where Stormbreaker would talk about all of her adventures endlessly to Novablaze and Galvatron—and really, anyone else who’d listen to her stories of her adventures.

It had originally been hard for the femmeling to leave Chaar at the age of nearly two, but as the years passed, she began to enjoy the adventures for what they were. Whenever she saw her brother and sire again, they gave her all sorts of attention and she was so excited and happy about that.

“Okay, Rodimus. But we’ll talk about this more later, after we go to the zoo!” Kicker said, firmly, giving Rodimus’ pedes one last kick before he ran off and let the young Autobot Leader continue on to his meeting with Spike and some others.

Rodimus Prime couldn’t help but laugh. Kicker was much more energetic than Daniel had been at that age, it seemed the teenage boy had come a long way as well. He seemed to have grasped a little bit of controlling his small EM field over the years, which helped him not to get headaches whenever he was around most Cybertronians. Kicker still seemed to get a mild headache around mechs like Galvatron and Optimus Prime, but never around Rodimus Prime—oddly enough—though his hair would flare golden and float around his head. The young Autobot Leader attributed it to the Matrix of Leadership. And the heritage object probably knew how to control its presence so that it didn’t hurt the strange, young human.

However, Kicker couldn’t quite get the hang of using his EM field in the way Transformers did—so, even when Stormbreaker would happily bump her field into his, he wasn’t quite as good at responding as a Transformer would’ve been able to do so, quite easily. One day, Rodimus hoped the young human could learn to use the EM field a bit better, because then he felt that Kicker would no longer experience headaches if he did so. But it was still such a fascinating thing that a human had a stronger and usable EM field—all humans had fields, but they were very weak and more of just a presence than anything else.

Having a usable EM field, that could interact with a Cybertronian’s, seemed to also give Kicker a mild form of ESP. He could sense some events a few moments before they occurred. Perceptor had become infinitely fascinated by this and called Kicker’s gift an “_anticipation engine_”. And while, when he was young, Kicker didn’t like being around Cybertronians because of the headaches he’d get from his field—as he got older, he actually preferred being around Cybertronians. He liked being able to tell what his giant robot friends were feeling, because humans tended to hide a lot of what they were feeling—so, he felt that Cybertronians were a lot more honest with him. He liked honesty more than anything.

That really wasn’t such a bad thing.

* * * * *

“_Conservation?_ What’s this conservation thing? It’s all through the zoo pamphlets……..” Stormbreaker asked from the backseat of the Jeep, looking at the zoo’s web information on her datapad.

Kicker peered over at the information on the datapad, sitting in the backseat with the young female Transformer.

“It means that they’re trying to preserve and protect the species of the planet,” Miranda responded, keeping her eyes on the road.

“Yeah, mom’s right. Humans, see………we’ve _kinda_ taken over most of the planet, okay?” Kicker said, picking up on his mom’s start towards explaining what a zoo actually was. “There are people who think zoos shouldn’t exist, but honestly, there’s nowhere for the animals to live anymore, because we’ve taken over so much of the planet. As we terraform, though, some activists think that a planet should be terraformed just for animals to live on all by themselves.”

“Before humans started making zoos to preserve animals and species, we had killed off many species—they no longer exist,” Miranda continued. “Zoos were probably built as a compromise, to try and save the animals, even as we took over their homes.”

“They’re not prisons, like people think,” Sally chimed in from where she was sitting in the front seat on the passenger side. “Most of the _really good zoos_ work incredibly hard to take care of the animals and give them a safe home. They may not have infinite fields to roam around in, but they do have food and safety every day—and that’s something they may not get in the wilderness.”

“Like Sally says, the good zoos do their best to preserve animals for the future. There are some bad zoos out there—small, dirty little places who are out there to cash in on making money by letting people see animals,” Kicker added. “This zoo is the largest in the world, they bought up a lot of unused land in the plains and it crosses a couple of state borders. It’s certified and accredited and _very clean_.”

“So, they take really good care of the animals?” Stormbreaker asked, looking over at Kicker, curiously.

“_Yep_,” the teenage boy said, smiling at her and nodding his head.

“Do they have kitties there?” The femmeling asked with awe.

Sally giggled in the front seat and Miranda gave a light chuckle. Kicker reached over and rubbed Stormbreaker’s helm fondly, listening to her purr and feeling her field full of happiness.

“They have big cats there—_lions and tigers_,” Sally said, proudly. “Though they’re probably pretty small compared to your parents and stuff.”

Soon enough, they were at the zoo and had to park a long distance away from the main entrance. Because the zoo was so big, some areas could only be reached by a light rail—this was the type of zoo you planned an entire day trip for. So, most people would get there as soon as it opened at 7:00 a.m. and would stay until it closed at 9:00 p.m.—closing procedures would generally start by 8:00 p.m., so that people could make their way back to the parking lots before it closed. The zoo had a larger main entrance, where the largest area of shops were clustered, then they had four other entrances with parking areas as well.

Everyone hopped out of the Jeep and Kicker hauled the large wheeled cooler out of the small trailer hitch on the back. Sally and Stormbreaker grabbed their backpacks out of the trailer hitch box. The little human girl had a bright princess-themed pink backpack and the young female Transformer had a backpack in the shape of a purple tiger-cat (with grey stripes), with a cute little tail waving from the bottom of it. Stormbreaker’s backpack clipped differently, with front clasps on the shoulder straps, because it would be too difficult to swing it onto her back because of her wings.

“Are your wings okay with the mag-clamps, dear?” Miranda asked, rubbing Stormbreaker’s helm fondly.

“_Mmmm-hmm_!” She giggled, her EM field rippling happily.

“Got your ID ready, Stormy?” Sally asked, looking up at the young Transformer that was just about the same age as she was.

“_Yes!_ Cari said I needed to have my ID all the time, because I don’t live on this planet and they might need to know who I am,” Stormbreaker said with a grin.

Stormbreaker had ambassadorial status, because of Rodimus Prime and his own status as an honored visitor to Earth and its outlying colonial areas. Though to be perfectly honest—if anyone in the universe **_didn’t_** know who Stormbreaker was, then clearly they’d never seen any sort of news broadcast involving Autobots whatsoever in the past five years.

Kicker chuckled to himself as he took his army-grade backpack out of the trailer hitch box and swung it to his back, hitching the front strap over his chest. Then he took out his mom’s smaller purse-style backpack and handed it to her. Since he was the “_big, strong male_” of the group, he took control of pulling the wheeled cooler with him.

Sally and Stormbreaker held hands, swinging their arms cheerfully, as they all walked to the ticket windows at the main entrance. It was a good half-mile walk to the entrance from where they were parked in the lot and the crowds were massive at the entrance. It was still five minutes to their official opening time of the zoo, but they were already issuing pass bracelets to try and keep the crowd manageable and not to be overwhelmed as soon as the clock hit 7:00 a.m.! Miranda Jones had a season pass for herself and her family, but she had to pay separately for Stormbreaker.

“Stormy, would you show your ID to the employee here at the window?” Miranda asked, looking back at the femmeling with a warm smile.

“_’Kay!_” Stormbreaker said, cheerfully. She reached into the hip pouch she had, which had her important things in it—her Earth cash-card, her ID and her personal datapad. The young female Transformer smiled at the middle-aged man in the booth and handed him her sturdy, thickly laminated ambassadorial ID. “**_Hi!_**” She said with a grin at the human man.

“Hello there, young lady. So, you’re the famous Stormbreaker? You look very cute,” the middle-aged man responded in a kind voice. “May I have your wrist for a moment?” He asked.

Stormbreaker held out her servo and the man looked for the largest type of bracelet he had and very carefully fastened it around her wrist. Then he did the same with pass bracelets for the three humans of the Jones family.

“Now, keep the bracelet on and show it to the zoo workers who ask to see it, okay, young lady?” The worker said with a kind smile.

“_I will! Thank you so much!_” Stormbreaker gushed happily, stepping back and admiring the small plastic bracelet around her wrist, trying to read all the small human letters on it.

Once the Jones family and their Transformer guest got into the park, they stopped to look at a large digital map display off one of the paths leading out to the zoo itself. There was a small crowd there, but most people already had their plans for the day. Since Miranda had made this Sally’s birthday present, they were going to visit the zones of the zoo that **_she_** wanted to visit the most, first. Sally, however, wanted to share it with her best friend, Stormbreaker, so the two girls were looking at the map and talking about the areas they both wanted to see.

“**_Aquatic Zone!_**” The two young females said, excitedly, turning to Miranda and bouncing energetically.

“_Penguins!_” Sally gushed.

“_Sharks!_” Stormbreaker cried.

Kicker facepalmed himself. **_Sharks?_** From a _little girl_, really? But then, her father was the lord and leader of all the Decepticons and quite the fierce force of destruction. A shark may well be like a puppy to the daughter of a guy like _that_. The teenage boy chuckled softly and ran a hand through his light brown hair.

So, then they all walked to the light rail station at the main hub that would take them to the Aquatic Zone, which was fifteen miles away. The light rail trip would take about twenty minutes. The two girls chatted excitedly about everything they’d see in the area where there polar and aquatic animals at the zoo.

“You’re not getting bored already, are you Kicker?” Miranda asked, reaching over to ruffle her son’s hair fondly.

“I’m just _tired_. I stayed up too late last night trying to convince dad to get my exo-suit done before Rodimus leaves again,” Kicker sighed, lightly batting his mom’s hand away. “You know how he is, he just laughed the whole thing off and said _‘there’s plenty of time, son, don’t be in such a rush!’_……….” the teenage boy sighed softly, mimicking his father’s tone perfectly.

“Thomas will get it done, he’s just riling you up,” Miranda laughed softly, tossing her head so that her blonde hair bounced on her shoulders. “Your dad loves igniting your blazing spirit.”

“I **_know_**, but seriously, does he have to act so carefree about things?” Kicker groaned, leaning his head back against the window of the light rail seating.

As soon as they got to the Aquatic Zone, it was a whirlwind of excitement as the two girls rushed from area to area to look at the aquatic animals. Some were behind glass, in climate-controlled habitats, while some were in pools. At one point they were walking along a circular walkway high above a large pool with sharks and rays, moving towards an interior area with smaller aquatic animals inside of it. There were also connected small pools where penguins dove from their habitats and showed off for the observers underneath the pools in their habitats, that could be seen in interior walking area with the smaller aquatics.

“_Oh!_ What are these?!” Stormbreaker cried, practically plastering herself to a long, large tube-like habitat where brightly colored jellyfish were floating up and down inside of it.

“They’re jellyfish. Small ones. In the oceans there are large ones that can be dangerous to humans and stuff, because they have poison stingers,” Kicker said, softly, leaning over the femmeling’s shoulders as she knelt to look at jellyfish floating at the bottom of the tube.

“_They glow! So pretty!_” The femmeling murmured in awe, placing a small digit of her left servo against the glass, where a pink-lavender jellyfish was floating near the glass of the tube. It hovered near her digit for a few moments and then floated off to the center of the tube.

“It’s called _bio-luminescence_,” Miranda said, reaching down and rubbing the femmeling’s helm fondly. “Their own bodies produce a glow, much like the lighting on your waist paneling.”

Stormbreaker reached into her hip pouch and pulled out her datapad and began taking a few pictures and videos of the jellyfish in the tube. She had taken a lot of pictures already and had to send most to a storage packet in one of the dataslots of her datapad.

They went to more areas and took a few breaks, so that the humans could eat and Stormbreaker could drink a small can of high-grade Energon each time. While resting, Stormbreaker and Sally would look at the pictures and videos they’d taken on each of their devices—the femmeling’s datapad and Sally’s cellphone.

Kicker sucked on the straw in his cup of soda, ice rattling as the soft drink was slurped up, and watched the two little girls gushing over everything they’d seen so far. He was happy that his little sister was enjoying her “_late birthday gift_” and it was cute to see Stormbreaker enjoying the trip so much, as well.

“Miranda, when will we see the kitties?” Stormbreaker asked, gazing longingly over at Sally and Kicker’s mother.

Kicker bounced his heels on the paved ground in front of him as he leaned back on the bench and looked at his smartphone. He tapped the app open and looked at the zoo map, swiping through a couple of advertising screens.

“The African Continent Zone is pretty close—there are some big cats there,” the teenage boy answered, looking over at everyone.

“_Kitties!_” Stormbreaker said, excitedly, tossing up her servos.

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. Kicker laughed to himself as he noticed the girls were still excited and bouncy when they walked back to the Jeep a little bit after 8:00 p.m. that night. About half of the parking lot was empty, so it was a lot easier to maneuver out of the parking lot than it had been trying to get in, with a box hitch on the back of the vehicle. They got back to Metroplex closer to 10:00 p.m. and that was when Sally began to show how tired she was, falling asleep in the front seat. Stormbreaker was quieter, but she was still awake, her optics and biolighting glowing in the darkness as they piled out of the Jeep and went into the Autobot City.

“_Caaaaarrrrriiiii!!!_” Stormbreaker squealed with excitement, running up to Rodimus Prime, as her tiger-kitty backpack bounced on her back between her wings. She jumped up and down in front of the flame-colored mech, mewling for attention.

The young Autobot Leader reached down to pick his femmeling up and listened to her talk non-stop about everything she got to see today. He looked down to see Kicker carrying his little sister and smiled warmly at them.

“Talk tomorrow, Rodimus?” Kicker asked, yawning as he nodded up at the flame-colored mech.

“We’ll talk, but until your exo-suit is done, there won’t be a _‘yes’_ coming out of this vocalizer yet,” Rodimus laughed warmly.

“_Jerk_,” Kicker muttered, walking past and heading to the quarters assigned to his family while they were visiting here on Earth with the Autobots.

“I’ve heard much worse from fiercer mechs, Kicker!” Rodimus Prime laughed as he walked in the opposite direction towards their own guest quarters while they were visiting.

* * * * *

“So, where are you off to next, big bro?” Daniel asked, smiling as his twins were trying to climb all over him on the couch.

Rodimus also smiled at the amusing toddlers that belonged to his human best friend. They were really adorable. They were both about two-and-a-half now, they’d turn three years old in a few more months. “There’s a planet in the Arcane system where the natives are asking for a peace mediator. There are two major countries on the planet that have been at war with each other for centuries and are finally looking to make peace, but they specifically requested me as the mediator,” the young Autobot leader answered. He lightly pressed a finger to the red-haired little boy’s back, to steady him as he nearly fell off of Daniel’s knees.

“What’s _mee-dee-aaa-toooor_?” The brown-haired little girl asked, looking up at Rodimus Prime.

“Well, Crystal………it means that they want me there as a kind of peaceful _‘wall’_ while they talk to each other,” Rodimus answered. “I stop them from being mean to each other, so they can talk about their problems.”

“Sounds hard,” the little boy grumbled, trying to stand up on Daniel’s knees.

“It depends on the people, Jacob,” the flame-colored mech laughed softly. He reached down and plucked the boy lightly up by the shirt and moved him over gently to sit beside his father. “You’re seriously going to get hurt kid, just settle down,” he chuckled, rubbing the boy’s head with a finger.

“I can climb **_any_** jungle gym!” Jacob said, proudly, crossing his arms and pouting a little.

“_Ah_, but your father is **_not_** a jungle gym!” Rodimus Prime laughed. Then Crystal began to laugh at her twin brother, too. “It’s been so long, Danny, when do human brats go to school?” He teased, rubbing both of the childrens’ heads fondly.

“Kindergarten at five,” Daniel chuckled, wrapping his arms around both of his children. “So, are you going to take Kicker with you on this _‘internship’_ you promised him?” He asked, kissing the tops of the kids heads as they settled down against him and soon fell asleep.

“The parent in me really wants to wait until he’s a legal adult, Danny…………” Rodimus murmured, crossing his legs as he settled down into a more relaxed seating position. He folded his arms over his chest and frowned. “Unfortunately, I know exactly how you acted when you were his age and even younger than that and he will almost certainly stoop to sneaking aboard the _Arrowshot_ before we leave.”

“You got _that _right, big bro,” Daniel chuckled softly.

“So, he’ll get to go………but I _have_ to make sure he does what I tell him to—he needs to understand I am in charge of all things when it comes to that ship and everything else out there,” the flame-colored mech sighed, shaking his head lightly.

“_Ah-ha-ha_………..**_that’s_** not going to stop him from doing his own thing when he wants to, big bro!” The young human father said with a soft laugh.

“_Gah_, I know that……….but maybe if I give him a very specific task, he can focus his initiative better,” Rodimus groaned softly. “Hey, how’s he been doing at his self-defense classes?” The flame-colored mech asked.

“Pretty good, he’s really applied himself to them. He doesn’t yet have a black belt, but he’s very close to getting his first level black belt,” Daniel answered. “He’s actually proven really good with kendo, though—his sensei let him start practicing with real katana this past year, rather than just bamboo blades.”

“Good with a blade, _mmm_? Then I’ll assign Skyboom and the others to hang about him as well,” he flame-colored mech murmured. “I’ll give him the most important assignment on my ship—he’ll _protect Stormbreaker_.”

Daniel gave a low whistle in appreciation. “Good plan, bro—because even _Kicker_ doesn’t want to go toe-to-toe with _Galvatron_,” he chuckled softly. “So, you think this mediation trip to………where did you say it was again?” The young human father asked, looking up at his very best friend.

“_Brex_ in the Arcane system. It’s a planetary system with a small sun-star and five planets. The natives are kind of…………well, I guess you’d say _‘bug-like’_. They are insectoids,” Rodimus Prime answered, nodding seriously.

All of the sudden Daniel began laughing, waking his sleeping toddlers up, they batted at their father’s chest and called him a meanie for waking them up. “Rodimus………….Kicker _loves_ bugs. He’s loved insect-like critters since he was a tiny brat. His favorite _‘World Hero League’_ character was Kuwagamaru and his favorite game series was _‘Cosmic Bug Rancher’_—which he sometimes still plays the new versions when they come out!” The young father laughed. “Ohmygod, Rodimus—this is like _his dream trip_, he’s going to meet **_bug-people_**!” Daniel chuckled.

“I hope he enjoys it as much as _you think_ he’s going to enjoy it,” Rodimus said, drolly, but he smiled at his human best friend. “Has he been studying Galactic Standard?” He asked, curiously.

“Kicker and his father have both been studying Galactic Standard with my dad and other members of the embassy staff. My dad’s trying to get it to become an optional language for children to learn in school, on Earth and the colonies on Mars and the Moon,” the brown-haired young man responded. “It’s surprising at how easy Galactic Standard is to learn, I’m going to make sure my kids learn it, too.”

“That’s a really good plan, Danny,” the flame-colored mech said with a chuckle.

* * * * *

“Look, Thomas—if Kicker doesn’t get to come along, he’s just going to stow away on my ship. _For the love of everything, please get that exo-suit done!_” Rodimus groaned when he got just a vague, laugh-it-off answer from Doctor Jones about the state of Kicker’s exo-suit. “We’ll do everything to keep him protected, but honestly, I want the exo-suit there in case of emergencies. Daniel would’ve fared better wearing his exo-suit more often, but that old model was a serious pain!”

“Rodimus, don’t worry—you’re leaving in two days, I’ll have it done by then, _I promise_!” Thomas Jones chortled. “I know my son and he’ll do **_exactly_** as you’re saying. I won’t let him down, or you either,” he added, seriousness creeping into his tone and a very serious look crossing his face. “But how are you going to keep him out of trouble while he’s on your ship?” The scientist and doctor asked, tilting his head, curiously.

“He’s going to be Stormbreaker’s bodyguard and babysitter, along with the Mini-Cons. Daniel told me that Kicker’s been taking kendo for a while now and they can combine into a sword. So, I think they’ll make a good team to watch over my daughter—plus he’ll have Galvatron’s threat of punishment and destruction looming over his head if he doesn’t put _all his effort_ into protecting Galvatron’s little princess,” the flame-colored mech said, nodding down at the human man.

“Well, at least he knows to take Galvatron seriously,” the human male chuckled.

“Are you kidding me, **_now_**?” Rodimus Prime mumbled, placing a finger to his audial. “I swear to Primus, Galvatron _always_ seems to know when I mention his name…….”

“Did he just………..what do you call it……….._‘glyph-message’_ you?” Doctor Jones laughed.

“And he doesn’t glyph for _‘fluffy’_ reasons, so he’s **_serious_**—I’ve gotta go, Thomas. Please, **_please_**………for the love of Primus and all existence, _get that exo-suit done_ before the next two days are up!” The young, flame-colored mech responded, saluting politely and then walked to the communications room on Athenia. He asked the human at the communications console to leave the room for a few moments, it might get loud—and he said Galvatron’s designation, which made the staff member laugh and leave the room immediately.

“**_Prrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmee!!!_** I have this report of yours and _I refuse to allow it_!” Galvatron roared, furiously. “_I shall not have it, Prime!_ You will not leave my Stormbreaker to the protections of a **_mere fleshling_**!” The Decepticon Leader snarled, aiming his nova cannon at the screen with his anger.

“Galvatron, _whoa, **chill**_!” Rodimus laughed softly. “Look, Kicker’s not going to be her only bodyguard—the Mini-Cons are assigned to her as well. And trust me, Slipstream will likely be able to hover nearby.”

“I said _‘no’_, Prime—this is **_absolutely non-negotiable_**!” The powerful Decepticon Leader howled, _actually_ charging up his nova cannon.

“My lord, Cyclonus is going to lecture you—**_again!_**—if you destroy another communications console,” the flame-colored mech chuckled softly. “Kicker’s very strong and skilled, too—especially for a _‘fleshling’_. I know you’ve met him a couple of times, likes to kick at our pedes when he’s pissed at us?” He teased. “His skills will be immensely useful, his _anticipation engine_ is something that should be admired.”

“I do not care what capabilities you believe this fleshling has, Prime—_I will not accept_ that you are leaving my Stormbreaker’s care and safety to **_him_**!” Galvatron snarled, lowing his arm and allowing the charge to cycle down in his nova cannon.

_‘Considering how he lectured me on spoiling our children and, **especially**, spoiling Storm—this is almost bad comedy right here,’_ Rodimus Prime thought to himself. _‘It must be because he saw her birth and her very young years, where she was unable to do much of anything for herself—perhaps he thinks she’s **weaker** than Nova is, whom every time he saw his firstborn, the mechling was a little bit bigger each time….?’_

“Galvatron, _look_. They’re not going to be allowed to wander anywhere that can’t have a chaperone attached to it. If you want, I can even ask Sixshot to shadow them all, if you’re _that worried_,” the young Prime said, keeping his tone soothing, since an EM field didn’t communicate well over the computer networks and across space.

“_I **never** said I was worried in any way, Prime—I simply **refuse** to allow you to let this happen!_” Galvatron roared, raising his arm with the nova cannon again.

_‘Uh-hunh, sure you’re not,’_ the young, flame-colored mech thought to himself with a wry laugh. “I swear to you, _nothing bad_ will happen……..and if it does, I’ll rip out my own Spark and have Ultra Magnus deliver it to you himself. I mean, because I’ll be dead and can’t do it myself, of course………..” Rodimus said, aloud, smiling into the camera eye at his lover’s image on the screen.

“**_Prrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeee!!!_**” Galvatron roared, infuriated.

“Galvatron, we’ll swing by Chaar directly after our conference on Brex and then you can see that your adorable little femmeling is perfectly safe and sound and happy,” Rodimus Prime responded.

“You will do as you wish, regardless of _my feelings_ on matters or not. You are _always_ like this, even when you are at your worst,” the powerful Decepticon Leader grunted, lowering his arm and placing the servo on his hip so he could motion with his free one. “It is one of your most charming aspects, as well as one of your most infuriating ones. If you are planning to come by after your conference, then please send me advance notice so that I may prepare a proper welcome for you.”

_‘And so you can clear out your berthroom of any evidence of whom you’ve had in it since my last visit, I’m sure, my lord,’_ the flame-colored mech thought, a soft sigh deep inside of him and reluctant acceptance of the way his lover was. “Of course, Galvatron—I’d **_never _**show up unannounced!” Rodimus Prime laughed warmly. His tone teased lightly, because Galvatron was the type to show up completely unannounced every time!!!

* * * * *

“_All right now!_ Look at that, don’t you look dashing in your exo-suit?” Rodimus Prime laughed as Kicker stomped up to him, just as he was doing an exterior crosscheck with Skyjack on the Arrowshot. “Helmet, too, Kicker—I want to see the _full regalia_!” He added with a grin down at the human teenage boy.

“_Rodimus!_ What do you mean I have to **_babysit Stormbreaker_**?!” Kicker complained loudly, cramming the helmet onto his head and frowning up at the Autobot Leader.

“Did I ever say _‘babysit’_, even once?” The flame-colored mech sighed, looking down at the young man. “The exo-suit looks really good, rather flattering of your dad to put the Autobot brand on it, but that means you need to hold up to Autobot ideals if you’re wearing it,” he added with a sly grin.

“_Pfft_, those are **_so boring_**, chief!” Skyjack laughed, tossing Rodimus his datapad with the ship scan information. “Now, _Decepticon ideals_ can have a lot more fun in them!” He added, nodding down at the human cheerfully.

“_I don’t wanna babysit, Rodimus!_” Kicker whined some more, yanking his helmet off, now that he was done “_displaying_” for the young Autobot Leader.

“And like I just said, did I **_ever_** say you were _‘babysitting’_? I’m entrusting the safety and protection of my daughter to you, Kicker—the Mini-Cons are there to assist you. Since I understand you’ve learned kendo, they’re perfect partners for you since they combine into a sword,” Rodimus said, kneeling down to look at Kicker from a closer angle. “And being Storm’s bodyguard is a heavy and _incredibly important task_—you let something happen to her, Galvatron **_really will_** kill you and I seriously _can’t_ stop him from doing that!” He said, very seriously. “I can dissuade my moody Emperor from many things, but from killing someone who let his little princess get hurt—that may be beyond my abilities. So, this task is quite possibly the most important task I can ever give you.”

“_Well_………okay, then,” the teenage boy said, a bit mollified as he realized how important a task that this babysitting-protecting job might well be. “So, we’re going to this planet of bug-people?” He asked, calming down and smiling up at Rodimus.

“_Insectoids_, yes. The Brexians are really an interesting people. They’ve got so many political and clan lineages, but two of the countries and allegiances have become the largest over the centuries and great wars have been fought between them,” Rodimus began to explain, rising straight back up on his pedes and placed his servos on his hips. “Some of the smaller political clans have banded together and begged for these two larger clans to end their feud—so, in turn, they requested me specifically.”

“_Got’cha_……..but why **_you_**, specifically?” Kicker asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Rodimus Prime facepalmed himself, mumbling softly.

“_Really, kiddo?_ What do you think the chief’s been spending the past five years doing?” Skyjack chortled, checking a few panels on the fuel port of the ship—near where they were standing.

“_Exploring space!_” Kicker said, excitedly.

“Well, there’s _that_, too………but we’re agents of the Galactic Alliance and the chief is a primary mediator for them,” the black-and-red mech chuckled softly.

Just then a happy, high-pitched squealing approached, accompanied by a trio of familiar voices warbling happily. Stormbreaker came to a screeching halt at Rodimus Prime’s pedes and mewled to be picked up by her carrier while the Mini-Cons stood there and patted Rodimus’ boots fondly, warbling cheerfully. The flame-colored mech picked up his femmeling, smiling happily at her with his field full of love surrounding her warmly.

“Are we going soon, cari?” She asked, excitedly, purring as she snuggled against him happily.

“That’s right,” the flame-colored mech chuckled. “Kicker’s coming along—his dad finished his exo-suit, doesn’t it look great?” He said, nodding down at the teenage boy.

“_Kicker!_ You’re gonna come with us, _that’s great_!” Stormbreaker said, grinning down at Kicker. “_Oooooh, your exo-suit is cool!_ I love the white with red-and-blue color scheme!” She giggled. “How long are we gonna be on……._umm, **Brex**_, right?” The femmeling asked, curiously, looking into her carrier’s faceplate.

“_Yep_. The planet’s called Brex, I was just telling Kicker about it. The natives are insectoids,” Rodimus Prime explained. “Kicker’s going to be your bodyguard and chaperone while we’re on Brex. So, the two of you can go look around at their museums and stuff, if you want. We’ll probably be there for a week.”

“_Ooooh, **want**!!!_” Stormbreaker giggled, hugging Rodimus’ neck and purring happily.

“After we’re done on Brex, we’re going to stop by on Chaar and make sure your sire hasn’t been up to any trouble since our last visit,” the flame-colored mech said. The red-colored femmeling giggled at the mere thought of Galvatron “_in trouble_”. “Then we’ll bring Kicker back to evaluate his small internship and decide what he’ll want to do after he turns eighteen.”

“_Okay!_ I’m gonna go find Slipstream and tell her the story that Danny just told me! Down, please!” Stormbreaker said with a big grin. The young Prime set his femmeling down on the ground. “_’Bye, cari_!” She called as she dashed off into the _Arrowshot_, excitedly.

“Scattor, Wreckage, Skyboom—I’m sure you remember Kicker?” Rodimus said, looking down at the Mini-Cons clustered about his pedes. “I want you three to work with Kicker on protecting Stormbreaker while we’re on Brex, all right?”

The three of them warbled pleasantly, nodding up at Rodimus Prime. Then they stood in front of the teenage boy and each held a servo out towards him, Wreckage offering his servo first. Then Skyboom placed his servo flat on top of his companions, with Scattor placing his servo above both of theirs. Kicker laughed, recognizing the friendly bonding gesture from many a television show here around Earth and the colonies. He placed his hand on top of all of theirs and on a three-count in their warbling language, they all bounced their limbs up into the air with a cheer.

“I can’t understand you guys, though………” Kicker sighed. “But I kinda get an idea of what you want from your EM fields…….”

“Stormbreaker can translate anything specific for you, she can still speak their language pretty easily,” Rodimus responded, smiling down at the human boy. “Come on, let’s go aboard and you can pick out a set of quarters for yourself. Six of the rooms are in use as quarters, while Sixshot has claimed one other room as an office for when he gets more security staff.”

“How come you haven’t gotten all the quarters filled yet?” Kicker asked, jogging a little to keep up with Rodimus, even though Rodimus was walking fairly slowly to begin with.

“I’ll know the people who want to join my crew when I find them. We’re a fairly long-lived species, Kicker and it’s _only _been five years—it took me just about as long to get _more than two people_ staffed at my embassy on Chaar!” The young, flame-colored mech laughed warmly. “The occupied rooms have glyphs on the doors—I know you can’t read the glyphs, but the signs with them are pretty obvious, so find a room that has no glyphs on the door. Then come and see me on the bridge—straight shot through the corridor, you walk through the conference room to get there.”

“What a weird design,” Kicker laughed. “It’s like one long hallway!”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Rodimus chuckled, heading for the bridge. “It’s simple and _that’s_ Galvatron to a _‘T’_!” He laughed warmly, disappearing through the doorway of the conference room.

“You guys have any recommendations?” The teenage boy asked, looking at the three Mini-Cons who were still hanging around him.

Scattor, Wreckage and Skyboom all looked at each other and warbled softly to one another, discussing things. Then they broke their little huddle and pointed at a room that was more isolated from the other claimed sets of quarters.

“_Oh-ho_, you don’t want me next door to adult ‘bots who might be doing it, _hunh_?” Kicker chortled realizing that Cybertronian sex was probably the reason they recommended a room with no neighbors.

The three nodded their heads vigorously and warbled their answer. As curious as Kicker may have been about the Cybertronians’ adult activities, he realized he might be way more embarrassed than curious about the act if he _actually overheard it_. It was probably better for him—and that he’d get better sleep—without feeling the revved up emotions of lovers going at it through even his tiny EM field as well as hearing anything better left to the imaginations.

“Then _this room_ it is!” Kicker laughed, waving an arm up at the sensor panel and it slid open for him and the Mini-Cons. “_Hmmm_. I’m going to need a stepstool to get up on the bed. The chair and table are way too big for me, too………..” he murmured, looking around at the room and wandering a bit.

Then he noticed the Mini-Cons doing something over on the table, warbling softly. In a few moments, Scattor held up a doorplate with a scrawled glyph on it.

“_Oh_, is that my name in Cybertronian?” The young man asked, curiously. All three of them nodded vigorously at him. “Well, let’s go back outside and put it on the door, _yeah?_” He chuckled warmly.

The four of them stepped outside the room and the three Mini-Cons stood on one another’s shoulders, so that Wreckage on the top spot could place the doorplate on the center of the door. After it was secured, they all stood back and admired it, Kicker took out his cellphone and took a photo, then they all went to the bridge.

“I’m here, Rodimus!” The teenager called as he entered the bridge area of the _Arrowshot_.

“I have your things ready for your room. Your mom gave you three weeks’ worth of changes of clothing and your dad gave you a maintenance kit for your exo-suit, he said you know how to use it,” the flame-colored mech said, walking around the side-stations of the bridge and pointed at several rolling cases near the captain’s chair. “I also went and bought a special mat—what do they call it……? _Memory foam mattress? _ Anyways, that’s what you can put on your berth, so it’s more comfortable for your soft, fleshy frame. I got a sheet set for you, that comes with blanket and comforter as well—something rather plain though, so I apologize.”

“That’s fine, I don’t need colors or stuff while I sleep! Hey, is there a chance that berth-thing can be lowered for me? And the furniture’s a little tall……..” Kicker trailed off. “_Oh_, but the Mini-Cons made me a doorplate!” He held up his phone and showed Rodimus the picture. 

“I’ll see what I can do about the level of your berth when I go in to put the mattress on it,” he answered. The young Autobot Prime knelt and looked at the photo. “_Ah!_ That’s a nice representation of your name, I wouldn’t have thought of it!” He chuckled, softly.

“What do you mean?” The teenager asked, curiously.

“We Transformers don’t have literal meaning glyphs for our designations, we have _representational glyphs_ of our designations—it’s descriptive of our personalities. My original designation of **_Hot Rod_**, the glyphs in it are _‘heat’_ and _‘speed’_—idea or descriptive glyphs are combined into a unique glyph that represents your name,” the flame-colored mech said, smiling down at the boy warmly.

“_Oh!_ So, what does it say?” Kicker asked, his brown eyes going wide.

“It looks like the Mini-Cons combined _‘blaze’_ and _‘program’_ for your name—_‘blazing spirit’_, basically, referring to your enthusiasm and energy,” Rodimus Prime explained.

“_Hey_………..that’s kinda cool, actually,” Kicker murmured, looking at his photo of the door glyph. “Can someone show me how to write it properly? I wanna use it more than just right here and stuff,” he said, grinning up at Rodimus fondly.

“Sure, I’ll show you how to write it later, once we’re on our way to Brex. It’ll take us about thirty hours to get there, so you should definitely get some sleep on the way there as well,” the flame-colored mech said, rising back up to stand straight on his pedes. “Mine and Storm’s rooms are off from the bridge, if we’re needed—use the intercom first, though. _Ah,_ that reminds me—you should have a communications code with your exo-suit, that way we can send you communiques if necessary. Mind if I access to get that—since you probably have no clue how to transmit?” He chuckled, warmly.

“_Uh, how_?” Kicker gasped, twitching when Rodimus placed a couple fingers on the energy pack that was on the back of the exo-suit.

“_Done_,” Rodimus Prime answered with warmth in his voice. “Wireless communication, like your cellphones and game systems have……._basically_. Since I know how to write English, as well, I can send you text messages that will show up on your suit’s HUD, but you’ll **_only_** be able to read them if you’ve got your helmet on. It’ll flash across the interior of your visor. I’ll do that when I want _silent communications_.”

“But I **_can’t _**respond back. So, you really mean _‘orders to give’_,” the teenage boy pouted, kicking a foot lightly on the floor in front of him. “The audio communication also needs the helmet, too, right?” He asked, looking up at the flame-colored mech.

“As you’re **_not_** telepathic, yes,” the young Autobot Leader responded with a light chuckle. “But you can respond via audio communiques, there’s a microphone set in the helmet.” Rodimus Prime folded his arms across his chest and gazed down at the teenage boy, very seriously. “Kicker, I **_need you_** to be at your best here—remember, you’re representing a race the Brexians have never encountered before, _don’t _give them a bad view of humanity. Be respectful while we’re on Brex, please. You aren’t just representing Earth, either—if you want to become a permanent part of my crew, _I need you to act like it_. Be respectful and have patience. Use your Galactic Standard while on Brex, because **_that _**is respectful—if you use English, they may wonder if you’re saying bad things about them.”

“_Oh_,” Kicker murmured, his brown eyes going wide with surprise. That thought had never occurred to him—that speaking a foreign language in a strange land might bring suspicions upon them. Or make the natives feel worried and uncomfortable. “Got it, Rodimus—I’ll start using Galactic Standard now, so that I get my practice in!” The young man said, grinning, and saying it in slightly choppy Galactic Standard.

“_Good boy!_” Rodimus chuckled warmly.

“Prime, I just did my security walkthrough of the _Arrowshot_—everything seems to be in order,” Sixshot said, coming onto the bridge, speaking in Cybertronian. Then he coughed politely and changed his language setting to Galactic Standard when he saw Kicker standing in front of the young Autobot Leader, right before he handed Rodimus a datapad. “Good afternoon, Kicker. Welcome aboard,” the old Decepticon warrior chuckled, nodding down at the teenager. “Hello, little ones,” he added, greeting the Mini-Cons when they scrambled over to him and hopped up and down in front of him for attention.

“Hi, Sixshot!” Kicker greeted cheerfully, placing his hands on his hips and grinning up at the teal-and-white Decepticon.

“We should be ready for launch any time you’re ready, but Minerva is still getting a few supplies for Kicker—should he get any injuries,” Sixshot reported.

“_Hey! I won’t get hurt!_” The teenage boy complained.

“Look, kid—it won’t cause harm to be prepared, just in case, right?” The old Decepticon warrior asked, gazing down at the human teenager.

“I suppose not,” Kicker sighed, shaking his head lightly. “But can Minerva treat _human_ injuries?” He asked, frowning as he looked up and between Rodimus and Sixshot.

“_Oh, sure_……….Minerva’s studied a lot of different species, that’s one reason I asked her to come along after Deszaras found her out on the frontier—her medical adaptability is impressive,” Rodimus Prime answered, smiling down at Kicker.

“Okay, then,” the boy laughed.

* * * * *

Brex was a gleaming world surrounded by jungle. The cities all shone—their metal and glass structures were very polished and bright—while all the cities were surrounded by dense jungles and vast lakes. They used airships to get between the cities, though some adventurous few might like to walk through the jungles from city to city. The two largest city-states were _Kore_ and _Laka_—these were the ones at war with one another for so long.

Though it seemed odd, the gleaming cities bore no marks of war.

Until you looked at the jungles surrounding each of those cities, scorched and torn in horrible ways. They waged their conflicts outside of their gleaming cities, which might be why the smaller clans in the smaller cities were so worried and wanted the two largest clans to make peace—they were concerned their cities might be caught in the war soon enough and become as devastated as the jungles around Kore and Laka.

It was an interesting evolution—“_clans_” were technically the names of the cities, all of which had their own unique political allegiance and ideals. Not everyone in a city was related, as the word “_clan_” might indicate, but there might be very long familial lineages concentrated in the individual cities. So, it was “_contained diversity_”. People who found their ideals didn’t align with their birth city and “_clan_” would go and find a city where their ideals suited them better—and that was how the cities were still diverse in their genetics and so forth.

“Good morning, Governors of Kore and Laka—I am _Rodimus Prime_, of Cybertron, goodwill ambassador for the Galactic Alliance,” the flame-colored mech said politely, dipping his shoulders and making a motion with his servo which was to indicate greeting in the Brexian custom. “This is my offspring, _Stormbreaker_, and her human friend, _Kicker Jones_. Other members of my staff you may meet later, as you wish.”

The Governor of Kore looked a little similar to a Praying Mantis, with a little bit of Wasp in the design—most of the body resembled a Praying Mantis, including the sickle-like arms, but there were large iridescent wings folded and trailing down the female Brexian’s back. She made a gesture with her sickle-arms and dipped her head, looking up at Rodimus Prime with respect.

“I am _Vivera_, Matron of Hir and Governor of Kore,” she responded in hissing Galactic Standard.

Her opposite, a male Brexian, had a very buff form—looking a bit like a cross between a Ladybug (due to the colorful, bi-fold beetle wings) and an Elephant Stag Beetle. He made a gesture and tilted his head as best he could in a polite dip, not having a neck of any real sort.

“I am _Orso_, Firstborn of Pael and Governor of Laka,” he said, his Galactic Standard a little stilted and growly.

“Kicker and Stormbreaker are very interested in your culture,” Rodimus began, kneeling down and lightly rubbing his femmeling’s head fondly. “They’d like to see your museums and art, if you have those here in this smaller city of Dreal—their friends, smaller Cybertronians that we call _‘Mini-Cons’_, would like to go along as well—they **_all_** love looking at new cultures and places.”

“I am _Nurda_, the Mayor of Dreal,” another Brexian said—this one appeared to be male and looked like a mix of an Ant and a Grasshopper. “We have such lovely attractions, I will have my administrative assistant show them around our city,” he responded in much more polished Galactic Standard, then made a clicking sound to summon his assistant. “This is _Yana_—she will show you and your friends around Dreal,” he added when a lovely Honeybee-like female approached, who had very lovely Butterfly wings as well.

“Come, Kicker and Stormbreaker,” Yana said, fluttering her fragile wings very cutely. “And your Mini-Con friends, as well,” she added when the three Mini-Cons finally dashed up, warbling happily.

When they got outside of the governmental building, Yana led them to something that looked almost like a larger version of a golf cart, designed to fit about twelve people inside of it—though with their society of varying sizes, it might seat more or less, depending on the individuals riding in it.

“Do you know, we do not get many visitors from outside of Brex, but your group is the _second batch of visitors_ we have had lately,” Yana chuckled, starting up the golf cart and moving out onto the paved area, which must have been a road. Areas that looked like sidewalks appeared to be something like a highly-polished, glass-like surface.

“_Really?_ Did you get many visitors from off-world in times before you have recently?” Kicker asked, suddenly going into an alert mode. He had no reason to be suspicious, but his hair was tingling and he knew it was trying to flare about his head—it was a good thing he had his helmet on and the Brexians couldn’t see that, though. His anticipation engine was going crazy with only very vague sensory information.

“Not particularly,” the Butterfly-Bee girl chuckled, fluttering the top pieces of her four-piece wing set. “To be honest, many seem to avoid us from off-world, because we are **_not _**squishy and soft,” she laughed, warmly. “It is nice to see that there are some off-worlders with harder skins than ours—I simply love your reds, Stormbreaker, they’re **_so_** vivid and lovely!” Yana gushed, weaving around some stopped carts on the road and driving along easily, as if she did this every day.

Not that the cart went fast, but it was fast enough for a pedestrian-oriented society such as this one.

“_Yay! Thank you, Yana!_” Stormbreaker giggled.

“Honestly, Miss Yana—I’m of the soft-and-squishy-type myself, but to travel with Rodimus………my dad and his friend made me this exo-suit, so I wouldn’t get hurt on strange new worlds like yours,” Kicker said with a bright laugh. “I think you guys are amazingly interesting, though—so many bright colors and unique looks. We have life-forms a little bit like you guys on my planet, but they’re not very big—they are only like a little bit bigger than my hand for some of the biggest types.”

“You’re wearing a _second skin_? **_That’s so science!_**” Yana gushed, swerving around a few other carts on the road. “I _love_ science, but haven’t got the head for it—my Patron says that I should remain pretty and quiet so I get myself a good partner when my time comes. But my Matron says I’m so silly-headed I probably won’t wind up with a partner worthwhile.”

“_Jeeze, parents_………….” Kicker groaned. “I’m not the science type either, but it is kinda cool to see it in action or the results of science.”

“_I like you, Kicker Jones_—even if you may be squishy inside of your second skin, you seem like a really good guy,” the Butterfly-Bee girl said, cheerfully, nodding her head at him happily, then swerved around a few more carts. “Here we go, this is our first stop—it’s Dreal’s _‘Classical Art’_ gallery. We have two of them, because some people complained they didn’t want to see garish modern art next to beautiful classical stuff and others complained they didn’t want boorish classical things next to the precious modern stuff.”

“Yana, what kind of paints do they use?” Stormbreaker asked as they walked into the art gallery together.

Kicker walked on one side of the female Brexian, while Stormbreaker walked on her other side, then the three Mini-Cons walked behind them, warbling softly to one another and pointing to various pieces hanging on the wall or on display in cases to walk around for a full 3-D piece of art.

“_Oh_. That word doesn’t translate, does it?” Yana murmured, looking at her watch and pressing some buttons. Kicker assumed it was some sort of compact datapad and she was looking the word “_paint_” up. “Many classical works use oils derived from plants in the jungles, with dyes added for color variations and such—I suppose that’s close to what you call _‘paint’_.”

Kicker stopped to look at a carving that appeared to be made of wood, while Yana took Stormbreaker and the huddled Mini-Cons to a giant painting. On Earth, a carving made of a tree trunk like this might be called a “_totem pole_”—it vaguely resembled the Native American guardian spirit posts he knew of on his homeworld. It had various bug-like super-deformed forms on it, about four of them, stacked atop one another. Then he suddenly felt his senses go wacky again and his hair trying to flare about his head, so he quickly looked around for Stormbreaker—and that was when the teenage boy saw someone who was **_not_** a native Brexian come up behind the femmeling and was about to touch her when Kicker grabbed the alien’s shoulder roughly.

He had dark red skin and jet-black hair that was shorn very short, his eyes were vivid yellow and had no real pupil in them, but some sort of refracting lenses. He looked to have a vague humanoid shape, but was not fully organic—Kicker got a mild EM field from the being, meaning he had _some robotics_ inside of him!

“**_Excuse me, sir!_** But you should politely announce yourself before you touch a stranger,” the teenager said, very loudly, pulling him away from Stormbreaker.

Suddenly the red-colored femmeling spun on her pedes as soon as she heard Kicker’s voice with a severe tone of warning in it. Yana also turned about in surprise and the Mini-Cons immediately took ready fighting stances, staying close to Stormbreaker.

“_Eh? **Oh**_. I was merely curious, because she looks more robotic than bug,” the male alien said in a bored voice, regaining his composure after Kicker’s yank-back knocked him off balance. “_I love robots_, so I was curious about her.”

Kicker’s anticipation engine went even more into a danger zone—this alien male was an “_unsafe being_”. How did he know Stormbreaker was female, for one thing? Only a Cybertronian might pick up on the design particulars of her frame, but most people in the universe would not. The young man from Earth started feeling immediately creeped out by this alien being.

“We’re in a little bit of a hurry, Miss Yana is going to show us some more tourist locations around the city, excuse us,” Kicker said, seriously. He gave a jerk of his head to the Mini-Cons, hoping they got his subtle message. The three little Cybertronians warbled gently and went to guide Stormbreaker and Yana out of the Classical Art Gallery. Kicker watched carefully and then began to follow them, keeping all of his senses alert for any unusual movements from the alien male.

“That was one of the squishy visitors I mentioned,” Yana said, when they all got back into her travelling cart. “I didn’t think he was still here. He claimed to be a scientist doing research out in some of the jungle areas………..” she trailed off. “Kicker, is everything okay?” The Butterfly-Bee girl asked, looking at her new friend with concern.

“Did he set off your anticipation engine?” Stormbreaker asked, quietly, leaning forwards to hug her human friend’s shoulders. She knew about his odd ESP gifts that were tied to his unusual-to-humans EM field, even though she didn’t completely understand them.

“_Mmmm_. I don’t like to say I can’t handle a situation, but……..we need to talk to Rodimus about this guy,” Kicker sighed, softly. “_This is bad_. My senses are **_not_** easing down—he’s trying to tail us, Miss Yana. Take us back to the government building, _now_, please,” he said, gritting his teeth with determination. “I’m sorry, Stormy—it’s not safe for us to keep wandering about, there’s something _very dangerous_ about that guy.”

“I hope he doesn’t try to follow us back to the government building, the security will probably arrest him,” Yana answered, worried because she could clearly see her new human friend was extremely worried and agitated.

That entire situation made _no sense_ to Kicker. The alien male had gone _straight for Stormbreaker_—if he were merely interested in robots, he could’ve approached the Mini-Cons first. They were always amiable and friendly! Plus, he knew that Stormbreaker was “_female_” as well. Then there was the fact that the alien male had gotten nearly close enough to touching Stormbreaker and **_neither_** the femmeling, nor the Mini-Cons had even noticed him at all. And then there was his own ESP—Kicker’s _anticipation engine_, as Perceptor called his range of ESP gifts, was going wild in a very bad way. 

The situation was dangerous and that alien male was dangerous……….**_that _**was what all of Kicker’s ESP gifts were telling him right now. Plus his general human intuition told him the same thing.

_Great_. What a way to start out his first adventure on his “_internship_” with Rodimus Prime and his crew! Kicker Jones gave a deep sigh, the only sound in the quiet of the group in the travelling cart, as Yana swerved through traffic again, back to the government building they had all come from.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a trilogy and is meant to emulate the beginning episodes of a t.v. series, really--especially a Japanese anime series and specifically the Japanese Transformers series that have come out. In them, the first episode is almost always centered around the "human sidekick" and is often an introduction to the main cast.
> 
> Next up in the trilogy: "Shadowed Intentions".  
Next Work(s) to post: a new chapter of "During That Time" and "A Little Downtime" (The Love of Romance series).


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